turtle
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A Florida box turtle, a land turtle. 
A sea turtle.
See also: Turtle
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɜːtl̩/
- (General American) enPR: tûrʹtəl, IPA(key): /ˈtɝtl̩/,
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)təl
Etymology 1
Modification of Middle English tortou, tortu, from Old French tortüe (under the influence of Middle English turtel, turtur (“turtledove”), see Etymology 2 below), from Medieval Latin tortuca (compare Spanish tortuga), the same source of tortoise (see there for more). Displaced native Old English byrdling.
Alternative forms
- tortle (obsolete)
Noun
turtle (plural turtles)
- (zoology, US, Canada) Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.
- Synonyms: (obsolete) shellpad, (archaic) shield-toad
- (zoology, Australia, British, specifically) A marine reptile of that order.
- Synonym: sea turtle
- (military, historical) An Ancient Roman attack method, where the shields held by the soldiers hide them, not only left, right, front and back, but also from above.
- Synonym: testudo
- (computing) A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.
- (computing) An on-screen cursor that serves the same function as a turtle for drawing.
- 1997, Brian Harvey, Computer Science Logo Style: Symbolic computing:
- Depending on which version of Logo you have, the turtle may look like an actual animal with a head and four legs or — as in Berkeley Logo — it may be represented as a triangle.
- (printing, historical) The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.
- (computing theory) A small element towards the end of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to take a long time to be swapped into its correct position. Compare rabbit.
- (dance) A breakdancing move consisting of a float during which the dancer's weight shifts from one hand to the other, producing rotation or a circular "walk".
- (television) A low stand for a lamp etc.
- Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television
- Using an appropriate turtle allows the full range of pan and tilt adjustments on the luminaire and avoids possible heat damage to floor coverings.
- Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television
Derived terms
terms derived from turtle in the above senses
- African forest turtle (Pelusios gabonensis)
- African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subruta)
- African sideneck turtle (Pelomedusa subruta)
- African softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis)
- Afro-American sideneck turtle (Pelomedusa subruta)
- Alabama map turtle (Graptemys pulchra)
- Alabama red-bellied turtle (Pseudemys alabamensis)
- Alabama turtle (Pseudemys alabamensis)
- Alamos mud turtle (Kinosternon alamosae)
- alligator turtle, alligator-turtle (Macrochelys lacertina)
- American Turtle
- Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles
- Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa)
- arrau turtle (Podocnemis expansa)
- Australian short-necked turtle
- Austro-American sideneck turtle (Chelidae spp.)
- awkward turtle
- big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum)
- black-breasted leaf turtle
- black marsh turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis)
- black turtle bean
- Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)
- bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii)
- box turtle, box-turtle (Terrapene, Cuora spp., Pyxidea spp.)
- chicken turtle, chicken-turtle (Deirochelys reticularia)
- common snakeneck turtle
- cooter turtle
- diamond-backed turtle
- dragon turtle
- eastern long-neck turtle
- false map turtle
- fertile as a turtle
- Fitzroy River turtle
- flatback turtle
- flat-headed turtle (Platemys platycephala)
- Florida redbelly turtle
- Fly River turtle
- golden coin turtle
- gopher turtle
- greaved turtle
- Greenland turtle
- green turtle (Chelonia spp.)
- have a turtle's head
- hawk-billed turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, hawk's-bill turtle, hawksbill turtle
- horned turtle
- Kemp's ridley sea turtle
- land turtle
- leaf turtle
- leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- leather turtle, leather-turtle
- leathery turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- loggerhead turtle, logger-headed turtle
- lute turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- lyre turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- Madagascan big-headed turtle
- map turtle (Graptemys spp.)
- marine turtle
- marsh turtle
- Mary River turtle
- mata mata turtle, matamata turtle
- mock turtle
- mock turtle soup
- mud turtle
- Muhlenberg's turtle
- musk turtle
- New Guinea snakeneck turtle
- Nile softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis)
- olive ridley turtle
- painted turtle
- pancake turtle
- pig-nosed turtle, pig-nose turtle, pignose turtle
- pitted-shelled turtle
- plateless turtle
- Plymouth redbelly turtle
- pond turtle
- purple turtler
- red-bellied turtle
- red-eared turtle
- ridley turtle
- river turtle
- roofed turtle
- sea turtle, sea-turtle
- side-necked turtle
- silver stater with a turtle
- snake-eating turtle
- snake-necked turtle
- snapping turtle, snapping-turtle
- soft-shelled turtle, soft-shell turtle, softshell turtle
- spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa)
- spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata)
- toad-headed turtle (Mesoclemmys spp.)
- tortoise-shell turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
- trunk turtle, trunk-turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- turning turtles
- turn the turtle
- turn turtle
- turtle ant (Cepalotes and Procryptocerus spp.)
- turtle-back, turtleback (Psathyrodes spp.)
- turtle barnacle (Chelonibia spp.)
- turtle bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- turtlebloom (Chelone spp.)
- turtleburger
- turtle-corral
- turtle cowrie, turtle cowry (Cyprea testudinaria)
- turtle-crab (Planes minutus)
- turtle-crawl
- turtle curb
- turtle-deck
- turtledom
- turtle dove, turtle-dove (esp. Streptopelia spp.)
- turtle down
- turtle-egging
- turtle excluder device
- turtle-footed
- turtle frog (Myobatrachus spp.)
- turtle frolic
- turtle graphics
- turtle grass, turtle-grass (Thalassia testudinaria)
- turtle-head, turtlehead (Chelone spp.)
- turtle hull
- turtle-insect
- Turtle Island
- turtle-kraal
- turtle leech (Ozobranchus spp.)
- turtle neck, turtle-neck, turtleneck
- turtle peg, turtle-peg
- turtle-press
- turtler
- turtle racing
- Turtle River
- turtles all the way down
- turtle shell, turtle-shell
- turtle ship
- turtle soup, turtle-soup
- turtle stone, turtle-stone
- turtle suit
- turtlet
- turtle trade
- turtle-twine
- turtle up
- turtle vine (Callisia repens)
- turtleweed (Batis maritima)
- turtling
- turtly
- twist-necked turtle (Platemys platycephala)
- water turtle (Emydidae spp.)
- western swamp turtle (Pseudemydura umbrina)
- wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)
Translations
land or marine reptile with a shell
|
sea turtle
|
Roman attack method
computing: type of robot
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
turtle (third-person singular simple present turtles, present participle turtling, simple past and past participle turtled)
- (intransitive) To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.
- 1919, Iowa Highway Commission, Service Bulletin, Issues 15-32, page 48
- Were speeding when car turtled Auto crashed into curb and turtled.
- 1919, Iowa Highway Commission, Service Bulletin, Issues 15-32, page 48
- (intransitive) To move along slowly.
- 2012, Sophie B. Watson, Cadillac Couches, page 193:
- We turtled along in Manitoba, back into the heart of the prairies.
- (intransitive) To turn and swim upside down.
- 2009, Amy Waeschle, Chasing Waves: A Surfer's Tale of Obsessive Wandering, page 149:
- I turtled my board beneath it, flipped upright, and started paddling again.
- (intransitive) To hunt turtles, especially in the water.
- 1973, Bernard Nietschmann, Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito Indians, page 153:
- Of these, 80 turtled (65%), 26 hunted and turtled (20%), and 18 hunted (15%).
- (video games, board games) To build up a large defense force and strike only occasionally, rather than going for an offensive strategy.
Translations
flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down
|
turn and swim upside down
|
hunt turtles
|
See also
References
turtle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
Category:Turtle on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons - Testudines on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Testudines on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
Etymology 2
From Middle English turtle, tortle, turtel, turtul, from Old English turtle, turtla (“turtledove”), ultimately from Latin turtur (“turtledove”), of imitative origin.
Noun
turtle (plural turtles)
- (now rare, archaic) A turtle dove.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- The same he tooke, and with a riband new, / In which his Ladies colours were, did bind / About the turtles neck […] .
- 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, I.1:
- As the turtle, every day has been a black day with her since her husband died, and what should we unruly members make here?
Derived terms
terms derived from turtle in the above senses
Translations
turtle dove — see turtle dove
Anagrams
Old English
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin turtur (“turtledove”), of imitative origin.
Pronunciation
Noun
turtle f
- turtle dove
- Synonym: *turtledūfe
Declension
Weak:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | turtle | turtlan |
| accusative | turtlan | turtlan |
| genitive | turtlan | turtlena |
| dative | turtlan | turtlum |
Coordinate terms
- turtla m (“turtle dove (male)”)